With the widespread use of smartphones and their increased performance, people now are turning more to their smartphones for activities that used to be carried out primarily on computers. Such activities include, for instance, shopping and networking. While many of such activities are conducted on web browsers of the phone, more and more can be done through dedicated application software programs, which are often times referred to as “apps.”
Both web browsers and apps on a smart phone, however, have limited functionality given the relatively small size of screens and the lack of precision of touches which are the primary operator of a smart phone. For instance, copy/paste on a smart phone can be difficult to operate and may even be restricted in certain apps. Typing, likewise, is difficult. Therefore, when a user sees an interesting product on a webpage or an app, and if the user is interested in purchasing the product, in particular from a different vendor, the user will have to memorize the product's name or identification and then use that information to search for the product on a different website.
There is therefore a need to allow a user to capture information from any website or app and enable the user to use that captured information to achieve the user's intended goal. The goal may be apparent from the information captured per se, such as purchasing a product, checking price at different vendors, or tracking price or availability of the product, if a product is displayed on the website or app.